Day 8 : Making the most of it in the most Catholic town in the universe

After the day break in Thoothikudi, we set ourselves for Manapad. I was espeially looking forward to this because the place was called the Manaapad beach resort. I hadnt looked at all of the reservatins, Matty and Shruti had done all of the set up on the accommodations. I just flipped through and said if i liked the hotel or not. It was nice being surprised when we arrived each morning.The day's ride would be the shortest of the trip at about 36miles. After a previous messy day we decided to move off of the small backroads to more of the main highways. The highways in this part of India, for the most part, max out at about 2 lanes per side and have an ample shoulder which scootys, motor bikes, cows, dogs, goats, Indian bicyclists and now the Bombay Scorchers use as a bike lane. It was quite

comfortable to ride with minimal traffic. We had smooth roads, not too much wind, no real climbs and we were surrounded on both sides by banana plantations for a part of the ride.

Ride Stats - shortest ride
Strava Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/845040635
Miles: 37.3
Total Time: 5:49:37 - this is because we stopped at the temple for a while
Total Ride Time: 3:28:41
Pace per Mile: 10.7
Start: Thoothkudi, IN
End: Manapad, IN

It is quite nice that in the mornings people play music :)

On the way we stopped by Sri Subrahmanya Swami Temple in Tiruchendur where G orchestrated getting us the VIP pass and we sat for the pouring of milk on the temple's main deity. We had to take our shirts off [ just the guys :) ] and i gave away all my rupees to some local kids. If i could have taken those 4 kids home with me i would have. We also met a transvestite begger. I had seen them before in Bangalore while driving back from a temple. I remember saying, "wow that is one ugly indian lady" when i first saw one last April. The guys corrected me and told me it was a Hijra ...basically a transvestite community with a leader and they go off and beg for money or start

trouble. They are known for their clap. We gave he/she a solid 10Rs.

The temple was great and we saw a milk pouring ceremony being performed. We received flower wreaths for our necks and markings on our foreheads.I was i nthe temple and one of the swamy's asked what country i was from. I replied "America" as saying "USA" typically got lost in translation. As soonas i said "America" the guy said "Trump!!" and raised his thumbs up. I guess the trump train has rolled 8500 miles to south east india :)

When i had visited India for the first time in 2012, i remember kids asking me for a "skoolpeh". I was like what is a "skoolpeh"? "skoolpeh, skoolpeh" So i asked them what is that and eventually worked out that they wanted a pen they could use for school. So this trip, again a few kids asked for skoolpehs and Shruti bought a couple of packs and was handing them out in the morning. The kids were amazed when they saw the bikes, amazed seeing an Indian gal cycling in western dress and so happy to just get the pens. The looks on their faces was priceless. I have been trying to think of a nickname for Shruti as she gave out the pens, something like the Johnny Appleseed story in America when he went along and planted apple trees. If anyone thinks of a good name, please coment below. :) 

We rolled in to Manapad around 12:30 or so and it is the most Catholic little towns i have every been to, possibly that exists in the universe. There are 3 massive churches for probably a few hundred people who thrive on tourism or fishing. Every house has catholic pictures of Jesus or Mary. There is a special cave there was Francis Xavier carved out of stone on the seashore with a well that gives pure fresh water feet off of the ocean.

Trying to scare matty boy ... this was a recurring theme :)

10ft from our homestay

panoramic

We checked in to the hotel which was more of a bed & breakfast type places, referred to as a homestay. It was great. The staff was great. We had lunch and set off for some site seeing since we arrived so early and the 36 miles didnt knock us out. Hit the church which was feet from our place, the beach, basically said hello to the whole town and then came back to the house. I was feeling a bit anxious and wanted to check out the lighthouse and the church on the hill so while the rest of

the scorchers napped, i slapped my cycling clothes back on and around 4-ish i set out again to see what i could see. :) The main man of the house, Cruz, who is 29 with a recently born young girl set out after he saw me leave on his motorbike and he took me around. Such a nice guy. We talked about weightlifting as he was in to it as well and he showed me all around the town. Some really steep climbs, but it was worth the extra effort. Back to the hotel, a quick drone flight, dinner and then we had G drive us to the places i cycled to saw the scorchers could get the nighttime experience as well.

If we had unlimited time, no responsibilities and no job, today could have been used as a model day. An early start, a medium sized ride, good lunch, a few sites

to see and a nice place to stay.

Tomorrow will be our final ride of the trip.... LETS GO DAY 9!!! Kanyakumari here we come!!!

i look about 500lbs bigger than shruti

Cruz and Matty droninnnnn

Me and Cruz were like BFFs. We took about 75 selfies and talked about weight lifting. Cool dude :)